Somebody recently wrote the lyrics to the famous Frank Sinatra song as a comment on our site “the end is near”, well folks for us the end is here…

We have lived a year that most people only ever dream of. It’s been hard at times but mostly it’s been truly amazing. The world is, as we expected, a beautiful place and its mostly the people that make it so.

We have now finished our trip and are living in Ireland. It’s a bit strange being back and having to deal with the rain on a daily basis, even in the summer.

A quick round up:

No. of days travelling: 382

No. of continents: 5

No. of countries: 23

No. of flights: 19

No. of bus journeys: 55

Longest bus journey: 33 hours (Laos to China)

Worst train journey: Pingyoa to Beijing in China (the smell of piss, shit and tobacco for 12 hours)

Countries we enjoyed the most (in order): Nepal, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody that followed us through our epic journey and left comments which kept us motivated to keep this site updated.

We will be collating a personal book of our journey which will include our posts and a selection of our 30,000 photos. You will be able to download a hard copy for only a few dollars via blurb.com. This will take some time to collate so you’ll have to bear with us. I will keep you posted on such developments. It will keep us occupied while we seek employment.

Thank you for everything, it’s been amazing.

All our love,

Davey and Sam

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

Three nights in one of the most amazing cities in the world was a great way to end our trip. We were so chilled after leaving Roatan and then to hit such a buzzing city…it was a bit of a wake up call and somewhat prepared us for our return home.

We chucked out all our ragged clothes and went shopping on 5th Avenue, took the tour around Manhattan, Brooklyn Queens, Ellis Island and around the Statue of Liberty. A fabulous weekend and one we will no doubt relive again in the near future – at least next time we won’t have to do so many tourist things.

Yesterday, while on a staff day trip (yes I know we are not staff) to some rare dive sites, we spotted and swam with a WHALE SHARK. It happened by sheer chance. Because of the political situation and it being so quite here on the island, West End Divers arranged a day trip for its staff and few customers. What a day it turned out to be. We got halfway to our intended dive site when the weather picked up and we had to turn the boat around. On the way back some of the staff spotted a spoiler which is basically some birds circling a school of fish, a sure sign of a feeding dolphin or whale shark – lucky for us it turned out to be a whale shark.

Most of our crew have never seen one. Christy, a local Honduran dive master, had not seen one since she was snorkeling at the aged of 15, the club owner has been living on the island for 20 years and has never seen one. It was a first for most of the other staff as well. As you can imagine, the excitement was truly unreal.

Diving in the various countries en route we were always just out of whale season, and even then we would have been luck to spot one. I read these few paragraphs on a scuba website and though I’d share them with you. It really highlights just how lucky we were.

Spotting the elusive whale shark is the high point in the careers of many divers. Yet many can go their whole lives without ever seeing this majestic beast.

What is a Whale Shark?

The whale shark, or Rhincodon typus, is the largest fish in the sea and not a whale. It is a cartilaginous fish like any other shark and breathes through gills. It is also massive – it can grow over 12 meters in length and weigh up to 15 tons. Despite its massive size the whale shark is a gentle giant. It is a filter feeder with tiny teeth that play no role in feeding. This large fish poses no threat to a diver as it eats only plankton, krill, small fish, and jellyfish.

Although their migration patterns are poorly understood the following dive sites are well known for whale shark sightings. Top four places to see whale sharks

Richelieu Rock and Hin Daeng in Thailand

Ningaloo Reef in Australia

Utila Island Off of Honduras

Just off the Seychelles Islands

We were snorkeling, so we both got to see it. I was so close I could have bitten its tail, surreal.

We’ve received a few emails of late asking if we have been affected by the troubles here in Honduras. Apart from a 9pm curfew we are completely unaffected and are just enjoying our time either diving or chilling on the beach.

There are some riots in the capital and other parts of the country, but not a hint of it here on Roatan . The locals are keeping a good eye on events, which are in Spanish, and are feeding the info back to us. A problem may arise when we need to leave the island as all local airlines have been grounded and there are no busses. Somehow we need to get from Roatan to San Pedro Sula to catch our flight to NY. Hopefully all will have calmed down by the 14th.

For now its back to enjoying our last week. I have 4 more dives booked for this week, 1 wreck, 2 coral wall and 1 night. I looking forward to the night dive most.

As we write this post we have been travelling for near on 12–months and to say we have missed some home comforts is an understatement. To this end, we have collated a return wishlist which we hope our family and friends will help us with upon our return.

Please feel free to add to this list, or even better, volunteer your services :

About Us

We created this blog so our family and friends can follow our life here in Dublin, Ireland. Sam is originally from the UK where we both lived together for many years. In 2008 we took a career break and completed a round the world trip across Africa, Asia, Australasia and South America. Following our travels we moved to Ireland.

We are expecting twins in November 2011 so our life and blog will take off on a different course. We would very much like you to follow us on that journey.